Jay Whitman '26 Recruiting Profile

I am  a Sophmore who loves the game of football. I've always had an interest in football since I was younger and when I learned that I made the team this Freshmen season I was thrilled being able to play at safety. This season wasn't what I hoped for since I wasn't a starter behind older players on JV. However, this upcoming season I am excited to see what happens since during the off season a really trained hard which has me feeling confident. 

This offseason I have done many things to help me improve my game. I have stared working with a footwork coach who has taken my abilities to heights I never believed to have been possible for me. I feel great as he is one of the people who mentors me and guides me as he too hopes to see me succeed. Nearly everyday I work these drills and the weekends are when I revise and learn new things, then I repeat practicing those drills and so on and on. Not only have I been working on my footwork and skills but I have also been training my strength. I do this by going to both the weight room training football sessions Monday - Thursday but I always train on my off days by myself at a gym going Friday and Saturday. I use Sunday as for a 90 minutes footwork session / rest day. When things such as football workouts are cancelled I also go to the gym trying to be better. I have seen gains that I have thought weren't really my level and have improved so much in such a short time with my training.  I am not a afraid of hard work because I know that hard work is the only way to succeed. 

Not only do I train myself physically but I train myself mentally. I try to learn and improve on my knowledge in both life and football. Many days I will be looking through the documents my coaches send out in their google classroom teaching new things on form, readings, etc. Watching these videos and reading the documents both make me a much better  player as these little and important lessons are what I believe makes the difference in a good safety vs a star safety. Training to be a smarter football player is good, but I also focus on my academic life. Currently I have a 4.1 GPA being in mostly honors classes. I do my best to keep up with my education as I know a good education will help take me far in life. Another things I do to mentally train myself is Boy Scouts. I started scouting at a young age joining the Cub Scouts in the 1st grade. I kept on going and am currently at the Life Scout rank, just a rank from Eagle Scout. I am quite close with the rank as well expecting to get it in the near future. Being a scout is about following the Scout Law and Scout Oath as these two things have me striving to be a more reverent, intelligent, and a strong young man. Overall, I believe that me as a person mentally, is just an important part of why I would be a great candidate for a college level football team.

One of the few things I desperately want in life is to play college level football, no matter the level. Any chance to have to cotinine playing football excites me. It really isn't even about the scholarship but rather the game itself. Being able to keep playing and enjoy the game for the prime of my life is something I want badly. I believe if you were to give me the shot to play that level of football, you really wouldn't regret.